There will be some temporary relief for air travellers leaving from Delhi. From Thursday, airlines will not charge them for using the airport.
The fee is Rs 1,300 from each departing international passenger and Rs 200 from every departing domestic passenger.
This follows a Delhi High Court order on Wednesday. The Court asked the petitioners — the Consumer Online Foundation and the Resources of Aviation Redressal Association (ROAR) — to approach the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to decide on the issue of imposition of the of fee called Airport Development Fee (ADF). It also directed AERA to decide on the matter within 45 days.
The GMR-led consortium operating the Delhi airport is likely to incur a financial loss of about Rs 1.85 crore daily as a result. “This is a temporary issue,” a senior airport official said.
In April, Mumbai airport also withdrew the imposition of ADF on orders from the Supreme Court. At Mumbai, a domestic passenger pays Rs 100 while an international passenger pays Rs 600. The Supreme Court judgment, however, allowed Delhi airport to continue to levy ADF.
Delhi International Airport Ltd, a joint venture company comprising the GMR Group, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Frankfurt airport operator Fraport and Malaysia Airports Holding is working towards modernising the airport.
The project is being undertaken through the public-private partnership route. DIAL has been given the mandate to finance, design, build, operate and maintain Delhi airport for 30 years with an option to extend it by another 30 years.